Ft. Bragg renamed for a different Bragg
Reasonable decision; great opportunity to engage U.S. History
Secretary of Defense Hegseth renamed Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg, but not in honor of General Braxton Bragg, but another Bragg.
The new name pays tribute to Private First Class Roland L. Bragg, a World War II veteran who was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for “his exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge.”
This is a good choice, and Private Bragg was among the options considered by the Pentagon in 2023 when they named the largest Army base in the World Ft. Liberty (No one in North Carolina called in Ft. Liberty). A private who served in one of the most famous battles in U.S. history strikes me as a much better choice than a General who graduated from West Point in 1837 and then fought against the U.S. Army during the first three years of the Civil War (he retired from the Army in1857 so did not resign an active military commission to take up a Commission in the Confederate Army).
I have no idea what Private Bragg’s politics were, nor of his comrades he left behind in Europe. That is at least one of the points.
Commemoration and naming is an important part of the mix of ideas on campus and beyond, and I wish we would use opportunities like this to dig into our history and talk about it. At Duke, we removed a statue of Robert E. Lee from in front of the Duke Chapel, but did not follow through on promises to use the statue to engage the discussion U.S. history as fully as we should have.
North Carolina history is taught in 4th and 8th grade in public schools in my home state, and a great project for the 8th graders would be something like this.
Compare the military lives of General Braxton Bragg and Private Ronald L. Bragg.
Fort Bragg was named for General Bragg in 1918, more than 50 years after the end of the Civil War. Fort Bragg was named for Private Ronald Bragg, nearly 80 years after World War II. Why did we pick people who served long ago when we named the base?
Compare and contrast these naming choices. What was the symbolic meaning of General Bragg in 1918? What was the symbolic meaning of Private Bragg today? In New York City, some schools go by a number to avoid the controversy of picking a name? What are the pros and cons of not naming bases after people?
Bonus question. Write up a brief biography of Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War of the United States from 1916 to 1921. Who was he? What were his life experiences? What are the plusses and minuses of having a Secretary of Defense (called Sec of War then) who never served in the Armed Forces.